Tomorrow the trial of Ahmed Seif, Gamal Eid & Amr Gharbeia in Khalifeh court HR organizations respond with a solidarity campaign

Tomorrow, Saturday the 22^nd of May 2010 at 9 a.m. Ahmed Seif, director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, Gamal Eid, director of the Arab network for human rights information and Amr Gharbeya, human rights activist and blogger will present in front of the Khalifeh court of misdemeanor, in case no. 8260/2009 to face charges by judge Abdel Fattah Murad of defamation, threat and misuse of communication tools.

It is noteworthy that the charges against the three defenders by Judge Murad were restricted to defamation and threat. The Khalifeh prosecution added the charge of formation of organizations not based on the law, which the public prosecutor replaced with misuse of communication tools in an attempt to obscure the real reason for their trial.

The undersigned organizations, members of the solidarity campaign for the defense of human rights defenders in Egypt,

In view of all of the above, the undersigned organizations:

• As they recognize in the trial of the three defenders a flagrant attempt to terrorize all human rights defenders in Egypt,
• Cannot overlook the link between this referral to trial by the public prosecutor himself and the recent statements by Dr. Abdel Aziz Hegazi, chairperson of the NGO Federation who warned that the era of human rights organizations is over and supported the intervention of security authorities to maintain Egypt’s national security!!!!
• Nor can they overlook the link between this crackdown on human rights defenders and the current and expected future human rights violations associated with the Shura council elections and will probably continue with parliamentary elections and then the presidential elections in 2011. Instead of honoring its commitments to the respect of human rights which it makes to the international community, the Egyptian government has decided to silence the voices that monitor, follow up, document and expose the violations of human rights of Egyptian citizens.
• And finally wish to draw attention that the change in charges starting from the complaint filed by judge Abdel Fattah Murad to the Khalifeh prosecution and finally to the office of the public prosecutor, indicates the complicity of the public prosecution with security authorities in dealing with human rights issues in Egypt, an issue that has been repeatedly brought up by human rights organizations in Egypt.Tomorrow, Saturday, the 22 May 2010 at 9 a.m.At Khalifeh court of misdemeanor, El Galaa street, Ramsis.
  

  Signatories in alphabetical order

  • Express their complete solidarity with colleagues Ahmed Seif, Gamal Eid and Amr Gharbeya,
  • And their continued commitment to the struggle for the respect for human rights in Egypt
  • And announce the beginning of a solidarity campaign with human rights defenders against the government’s crack down
  • And call upon all colleagues in human rights organizations, democracy movements and independent media to express solidarity with the three defenders
    1. Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-violence Studies – Egypt
    2. Arab Human Rights Defenders Union
    3. Arab-European center human rights and international law – Norway
    4. Association for freedom of thought and expression – Egypt
    5. Bahrain youth society for human rights – Bahrain
    6. Cairo Center for development – Egypt
    7. Center for Trade Union and Workers Services – Egypt
    8. Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement – Egypt
    9. Egyptian center for Economic and Social Rights – Egypt
    10. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights – Egypt
    11. Human rights and Democracy media center (SHAMS) – Palestine
    12. International council for Rehabilitation of Torture (IRCT) – Denmark
    13. Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence – Egypt
    14. New Woman Foundation
    15. Taskforce against torture – Egypt
    16. The savior of Human Rights organization-Iraq
    17. Yemen center for human rights – Yemen